Affective experience of J. League fans: The relationship between affective experience, team loyalty and intention to attend

This study examines the relationship between affective experience at the stadium, team loyalty, and intention to attend future games. Two surveys were conducted on spectators, excluding away team fans, of two games of the 2000 J. League (Japan Professional Football League). To measure the affective experience of the fans, six categories consisting of 22 items were selected from The Consumption Emotion Set. Those six categories are joy, anger, sadness, excitement, worry and love. The findings of this study show that the affective experience of the fan at the stadium directly influenced their team loyalty. It seems that affective experience at the stadium might be one of the factors that creates strong links between a team and their fans. Although some implications are suggested, it is pointed out that further research on the emotional component in sport spectator study would be needed for more practical implications.